A series of mug shots of Doris Payne featured in "The Life and Crimes of Doris Payne." Photo: Treehouse Moving Images

MOVIE REVIEW

The Life and Crimes of Doris Payne

Running time: 72 minutes. Not rated (profanity). At the Film Forum, Houston and Varick streets.

Born in 1930 to a black father and Cherokee mother, Doris Payne has been a thief since age 16. She grew up poor, but her beauty and regal manners got her into the world’s finest jewelry stores — where she invariably palmed the best pieces.

But there’s sadness here — not for the stores, whose concerns are brushed off, but for the circumstances that created Doris, and the way her life has kept love at a distance. Much time is devoted to a trial that could result in her dying in prison. Still, it’s obvious that Pond and Marcolina can’t resist the woman, any more than she can resist yet another heist.